Texas Tech football notes for Aug. 28

Tuesday

Aug 27, 2013 at 8:15 PM

Freshmen receivers traveling

Texas Tech co-offensive coordinator Eric Morris could play a couple of true freshmen at inside receiver positions this year. The "H" and "Y" inside receiver spots both are two-deep with returnees, but February signees Dylan Cantrell from Whitehouse and Carlos Thompson from Manvel will travel for the SMU game, Morris said Tuesday, and are being prepared to play.

The 5-foot-9, 173-pound Thompson was a low-profile recruit despite huge senior-year stats for his Class 5A team. He could get some snaps behind Jakeem Grant and Sadale Foster.

"Carlos has done a good job," Morris said. "Maybe some of the best ball skills of anybody we have on our entire team. For how small he is, he does a great job going up and getting some things and making some catches you wouldn't think a little 5-8 kid could. He's a competitive kid that loves to play football and have fun with it."

With tight end/"Y" inside receiver Jace Amaro suspended for the first half of Friday's season opener, Morris will turn to Jordan Davis and Cantrell to get those snaps.

"Jordan can go both (inside receiver) positions right now," Morris said. "Dylan can go both positions right now. Those guys are kind of interchangeable. With our concepts, the 'H' and 'Y', a bunch of it complements each other. We have five or six guys I have confidence to put in right now, and we'll put Jace in the second half and let him roll."

Morris and co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie have gone back and forth on where to deploy the 6-3, 205-pound Cantrell. He was projected on signing day as an inside receiver, then in the summer Cumbie likened him size- and style-wise to 2012 senior Darrin Moore and planned to put him at flanker.

He wound up back inside.

"We expect big things from Dylan," Morris said. "He's a smart kid that's come in and picked up everything. He's a tough kid that's done everything we've asked and made it through camp healthy, and so Dylan we're looking forward to contributing to this team."

OL falls into place

Rashad Fortenberry will start at right tackle in the season opener, offensive line coach Lee Hays said, after finally getting enough time in training camp to win the job. The 6-foot-5, 297-pound senior missed most of spring practice with an ankle injury and the start of August workouts coming back from meniscus surgery.

"Right now, Rashad's starting to come on," Hays said Tuesday. "I'm excited about how much he's improved. I've gotten a chance to see him get after it a little bit. He was hurt the first half of camp, really, but I'm excited about him."

Had Fortenberry been unable to claim the job, Tech was prepared to let Beau Carpenter slide from right guard to right tackle and have redshirt freshman Trey Keenan join the starting lineup. As it stands, Keenan is viewed as the sixth man in the rotation, one who could play guard or tackle if need be.

Backup linemen are a question mark going into the season. Among the second-teamers, Hays said guard James Polk is "starting to come around," left tackle Josh Outlaw "is starting to show a few flashes" and right tackle Matt Wilson "has had a solid week."

Freshman center Baylen Brown likely will be on the travel squad. Brown has been working with the second group at center. It remains to be seen if the line would be shuffled and a more experienced player inserted should starting center Jared Kaster have to come out.

Barnes, Jenkins impress

Co-defensive coordinator Mike Smith can foresee a day when Zach Barnes and Malik Jenkins are key players on the Texas Tech defense. When asked Tuesday which newcomers have a chance to help early, Smith said those two have stood out in preseason practice.

Barnes, who Tech lists at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, has moved from Tech's "bandit" outside linebacker to defensive end. The freshman from Loganville, Ga., is learning behind senior Dartwan Bush and sophomore Branden Jackson. Jenkins, listed at 6-2 and 205, is a middle linebacker.

"Zach's just a high-motor guy," Smith said. "He only knows one speed, and that's full speed. Sometimes he might line up wrong, but he's going to go full speed."

Smith and Tech defensive coordinator Matt Wallerstedt are captivated by Jenkins' athleticism and think he has a lot of growth potential. The Ennis product is at position where junior Sam Eguavoen and sophomore Micah Awe are 1-2.

"I think Malik Jenkins is going to have a bright future," Smith said. "I really love that kid. He's huge, tall, long arms, is fast-twitch. You see spurts of stuff that make you excited. I think that kid has really got a chance."

Smith said he's not sure if Barnes and Jenkins will be on the plane to the opener at SMU, "but I know those two guys can help us."

Where's the time gone?

In September 2010, senior defensive lineman Kerry Hyder made his Texas Tech debut with a solo tackle on the second drive of the game during the season opener against SMU.

Now three years later, Hyder will play his last first game for Texas Tech against SMU.

"It's been great, just seeing myself grow and develop as a player," Hyder said. "I'm just seeing where I was my freshman year my first game and seeing where I'm at now, it's different. I'll be way more prepared for this game than I was back then."

When asked if starting his final season for the Red Raiders added any extra pressure, Hyder answered that it wasn't pressure as much as motivation to finish his career in the scarlet and black strong.

"My teammates are behind me," he said. "This is something coaches expect from me is to lead this group. I'm going to do my best to do that. (It's) just added motivation."

Fast but controlled

Junior wide receiver Bradley Marquez mentioned in the team's Monday press conference that the Texas Tech offense aims to run two to three plays per minute.

"The way we run it, it's fast but obviously it's controlled," Marquez said. "It's not just fast where we're not knowing where we're lining up and things like that. We've practiced it enough and we know certain plays and formations that put us in the best situation, and coach has done that. So it's fast. I don't really know how to explain it, but everyone will see Friday."

Throughout spring and preseason practices, the Red Raiders have run the offense at breakneck speed.

Come Friday, they will have to slow down a little bit due to media timeouts and ball placement. The Big 12 has added an extra official this season, partly to help spot the ball and keep up with the fast-paced offenses.

"It's going to benefit us come the third, fourth quarter," Marquez said. "But it's something we've been training for and we're excited about. We've embraced it, as fast as we go, and everybody's bought into it."

Tech ran a hurry-up offense in bursts the last three years, but coaches say this system will be faster because they'll substitute less and be more efficient signaling in plays.

"It's a thing where if a receiver can stay in there as long as possible, that's what we're doing and bringing in fresh legs as soon as we can," Marquez said. "As soon as they're not able to go full speed, then we'll get somebody else in there so we can have fresh legs throughout the whole series."

Compiled by Don Williams and Krista Pirtle

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